I love when work is literally so slow I have time to do a proper “tea review” on shift, including detailed hand written tasting notes. Today was one of those days, so basically this is what I wrote, word for word, as I was drinking this on shift. It was the last of the Winter/Holiday teas I bought that I needed to try out…
This is the tea I was MOST excited for when the Winter/Holiday teas were announced (leaked). I love molasses, and actually usually really love gingerbread even though 9/10 times I’ll go out of my way to avoid food/drink with ginger in it. And, out of all the announced this this one most said “Christmas flavour” to me, at least name wise. Sadly, in store this is the tea I was LEAST impressed with (aside from, maybe, Spiced Fig which I didn’t even purchase). The dry leaf is just completely underwhelming in smell. Yes, there’s ginger, and yes there’s molasses but it just doesn’t feel like enough of it. I want to get hit in the face with the molasses and ginger, but instead I smelled the fruit in the blend before I could smell anything else. I bought 20g anyway though, on the hope I could be really wrong about this one.
Preparation:
- 1 1/2 tsp. for 12 oz. steeped t boiling in my timolino
- Steeped the full 7 minutes
The smell is a lot more rich steeped as opposed to dry – something I’m a little surprised by, but thankful for. There’s really deep, rich notes of molasses that hit you in the middle of a deep inhale and then sit with you for a while. It’s reminding me of the ginger snap cookies my baby sitter used to bake when I was young: they were so soft and richly molasses tasting. The fruit is in here too… I know it is: thing is, it’s also blending with everything else SO well that it’s not distinct enough to jump out at any part of the smell (if that makes sense). But Mmmmm, I love the smell of this SO SO SO much.
The taste is good: a lot like ginger snaps as well. I’m loving how well the molasses smell has carried into the taste – but I also just love molasses in general. The ginger is fluid throughout the sip, but is especially noticeable in aftertaste where it kind of tickles at my tongue and the back of my throat. As someone who’s not typically a fan of ginger things, it’s working pretty well for me (although the tickle in my throat keeps making me think my voice is gonna crack when I’m talking to customers). The rooibos base does really get lost underneath all the other flavours, so if you like gingerbread/molasses but were hesitant because this is rooibos, it might not be something you should be concerned about.
I think I’m in the minority when it comes to the new winter/holiday blends, because I seem to be enjoying them more than a lot of other people. I like this tea – and while initially is was just “good but average” to me as I was drinking it, the flavour REALLY built as I got closer to the bottom and I was really disappointed when I reached the bottom of my Timolino. I think, before they leave, I’ll need to make sure I’ve got more of this. 50g would probably do. I don’t think I love it enough for a full 100g.
(But seriously, the best part is the smell. If my kitchen permanently smelled like that all winter I’d be SO freaking happy)
I love your tasting notes!
Sometimes I worry they’re ridiculously long…
Nope. Perfectly long. I love them!